2012년 7월 22일 일요일

Summer birds at Neung-nae, Gyong gi do province


After current president M,B Lee's policy, the Four River Project, These Korean four Major River systems sufferd all kind of constructions causing deterioration of bird habitats. Especially, Wetland summber breeders such as this Oriental reed warbler, were greatly affected. but there are no sufficient surveys or evaluations following up. Obscuring the people's eye and information.

Oriental reed warbler is a common bird, very abundant at Riverside or any wetland's reedbeds. But in my personal experience, It is certain that enormous area of these bird's breeding habitat has been distroyed, for sure,at least in Reedbeds in Han river sytem in Seoul. Due to The 4 River project, almost every proper reedbed in Seoul city was altered to much shorter species of grass and  many riverside park's reedbeds were changed into parking lots, lawns and aspalts. Although every environment changing constructions and products must undergo carefull inspection and consideration, it does not seem to me that the City and Ministry of Environment are showing any reliable level of responsibilities.

a male Oriental reed warbler below were found at Neung nae, riverside park of an river outside of Seoul. I clearly remember that 3 years ago, there were hundreds thousands of oriental reed warblers at the site I spotted this one, and their songs were so laud and noisy that made me perplexing. but this june,2012 I could find only this male bird, at small patch of reed that was yet eliminated.

I understand that bird and habitat both can be recoverd, with amazing nature's resilience, but can't stop feeling disturbed, worried about these bird's population decline. there were actual significant decline of many species of breeding passerines in korea, such as brown shrike, Korean bush warbler, etc. but lack of sufficient survey data makes us difficult to detect these declines. We cannot just sit down and expecting something good will occur, but we need to go out and record what is going on.

Any bird species can go on their extiction,  even though they are known to be so abundant, and we don't have to cite every examples that we did before on our history. Oriental reed warbler is abundant at this time, and I believe that they'll be quite common for a while, but it does not immune us from monitoring and recording these lifeforms when we can do it yet.

It might be happy for him, not to compete with other males, but this solitary male, singing its solo instead of discord of territory defence frenzy, looked lonely for me, reminding myself a story of the ' Lonely George' the elephant turtle died lonely as the last individual of its kind.




Below photos are birds from Neung Nae, the same day when that orientalreed warbler was observed.

     moorhen.
 Kingfisher feeding on tadpols in rice paddy.
Tricolor flycatcher. this bird is also 'presumed' declining forest bird. but who knows?
there are so little evidence to confirm.
Forest birds like this flycatcher are much harder to detect its population change,
with lack of people with proper experience and education of birding.

barn swallow, contrastingly, because this bird is relatively easy to detect, its significant decline in throuhout the country is well known. and it was designated as a natural monument.
barnswallows lived with human housings from long ago, building cultral bondage with agricultral life.
all korean kids know the folk tale of "Heung-bu and Nol-bu"( a story of rich, greedy and miser elder brother and poor but good younger brother. the later helped the leg broken- barn swallow, was finally gifted with teasures popped from a pumpkin, and the former who broke the leg intensionally, was treated with dungs and monsters.)
but most of them never saw a swallow in their life. for myself, grown in seoul , it took 20 years to find my first lifer barn swallow.


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